Faculty Bibliography

Tom Christerson, 70, the second recipient of a self-contained artificial heart, is breathing on his own, taking daily walks in an intensive care unit, and otherwise recovering well at Jewish..

Forensic use of DNA testing began in 1985 and has evolved into what law enforcement experts call the most powerful tool since the development of fingerprinting in the late 19th century. In the mid-1990's DNA testing was used to identify exhumed bones as those of Czar Nicholas II and members of his family who were executed in Russia in 1918. In 1998, DNA testing identified the ''unknown soldier'' killed in Vietnam. In 1996, Dr. [Charles Wetli] led the forensic investigation of the victims of the crash of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island. When terrorism was initially suspected, his team decided it could not rely on presumptive identifications and used DNA testing, Dr. Wetli said. DNA testing had been used in identifying more than 80 Branch Davidians who died during a standoff with F.B.I. agents in Waco, Tex., in 1993. DNA was also used to identify all but 2 of the 141 Ukrainians and Russians aboard a Russian airplane that crashed near Spitsbergen, Norway, in 1996. As of yesterday morning, 152 bodies had been identified and their relatives notified, the medical examiner's office said, and all identifications have been through traditional means like fingerprints and dental records. Dr. [Robert Shaler] said his laboratory had extracted DNA from 3,200 of the 3,600 tissues it has received and has produced DNA profiles of 839 among them. He added that this week he expected to send the extracted DNA to the private laboratories, where scientists will try to match them with DNA submitted by relatives or from personal items

Dr. [Gray, Jr.]; his partner, Dr. Robert D. Dowling; hospital officials and the device's manufacturer, Abiomed of Danvers, Mass., took precautions to map the city's electrical grid and did a test run with an artificial heart to make sure there were no signals that would interfere with Mr. Tools's device

Forensic use of DNA testing began in 1985 and has evolved into what law enforcement experts call the most powerful tool since the development of fingerprinting in the late 19th century. In the mid- 1990s DNA testing was used to identify exhumed bones as those of Czar Nicholas II and members of his family who were executed in Russia in 1918. In 1998, DNA testing identified the 'unknown soldier' killed in Vietnam. [Robert Shaler] said his laboratory had extracted DNA from 3,200 of the 3,600 tissues it has received and has produced DNA profiles of 839 among them. He added that this week he expected to send the extracted DNA to the private laboratories, where scientists will try to match them with DNA submitted by relatives or from personal items. In tests of preserved tissue, the forensic experts can directly match the DNA extracted from the nucleus of cells from the victim with DNA recovered from personal effects like a toothbrush. Also, the victim's DNA can be compared with that of close relatives

'The best thing we can offer is to treat you in a political vacuum and like an average man in the street,' [Jonathan S. Reiner] said later, describing what he told [Dick Cheney] at the time. Cheney and his wife, Lynne, immediately agreed. In Cheney's case, the team followed its usual custom of listening to rock music on the radio. This time the situation was bizarre. If the doctors forgot who their patient was, the radio reminded them. An announcer gave updates about Cheney's condition, but they lagged behind what the doctors were doing. Cheney did not react to the news accounts. At one point, Reiner wanted to point out something on the monitor screen to Dr. Richard Katz, the hospital's chief of cardiology, who is called Dick. 'Hey, Dick, do you see that?' Reiner said. Cheney responded, asking what Reiner wanted him to look at. 'No sir, I am not calling you Dick,' Reiner said. 'Oh, you can call me Dick,' Cheney said. Then Reiner said. 'No sir, I am referring to the Dick in the control room.'

Last week, when the most pressing health problem was the degree to which the country was vulnerable to anthrax, the C.D.C.'s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the bulletin that doctors and health workers look to for information about communicable diseases, devoted only two paragraphs to the anthrax situation, providing only sketchy details of the first two cases and a description of anthrax symptoms. Communication from the C.D.C. is particularly important because anthrax in humans is rare in this country, with just 236 cases of all types reported between 1955 and 1999. Most doctors have never seen a case, and look to the C.D.C. for guidance. When Florida health officials called the C.D.C. to report that Robert Stevens, 63, had apparently developed inhalation anthrax, the centers deployed 15 epidemiologists and other scientists. In confirming the case and seeking its source, the Epidemic Intelligence Service has relied on traditional Sherlock Holmes-style sleuthing and the skills of colleagues in the laboratory, who use the latest genetic and other laboratory tests, Dr. [Jeffrey P. Koplan] said

On Oct. 4, when Tommy Thompson, the secretary of health and human services (the CDC's parent agency), disclosed the first anthrax case, he said it appeared to be an isolated case in Florida, possibly linked to natural exposure to anthrax in the environment. Last week, when the most pressing health problem was the degree to which the country was vulnerable to anthrax, the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the bulletin that doctors and health workers look to for information about communicable diseases, devoted only two paragraphs to the anthrax situation, providing only sketchy details of the first two cases and a description of anthrax symptoms. Communication from the CDC is particularly important because anthrax in humans is rare in this country, with just 236 cases of all types reported between 1955 and 1999. Most doctors have never seen a case, and they look to the CDC for guidance

Anthrax spores were identified in cultures of Mr. [Ernesto Blanco]'s nose, and he was initially categorized as an exposure, not a case, of anthrax. Though he was hospitalized with a fever and cough, his symptoms were not typical of inhalation anthrax, and laboratory tests of his sputum and chest fluid showed no signs of anthrax bacteria. American doctors have had little experience with inhalation anthrax because just 18 cases were reported in the United States last century. In this form of the disease, the bacteria in the body produce a toxin that destroys tissue. Doctors have believed that inhalation anthrax is fatal because by the time the symptoms of infection appear, the toxin is already doing its deadly work, and antibiotics are ineffective against it. It may be that the antibiotics Mr. Blanco received as a precaution saved his life. The intern, Jordan Arizmandi, 23, worked as a reporter for The National Enquirer but was not known to have ever been in the mailroom, where health officials believe workers were exposed to the bacteria. A communications major at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Mr. [Hank Arizmandi]'s internship ended on July 17, several weeks before the terrorist attacks and well before the anthrax exposure first became known

En las etapas iniciales de la investigacion, los epidemiologos no pudieron asumir nada, y el mismo paciente era incapaz de comunicarse; se encontraba en coma cuando llego al hospital en Atlantis, Florida, y murio sin recobrar el conocimiento. Asi que los trabajadores de la salud tuvieron que entrevistar a su esposa y familiares para reconstruir lo que habia hecho en las dos semanas anteriores. Donde se detuvieron, comieron y durmieron los [Stevens] en el transcurso del viaje? Estuvo expuesto a contacto con un animal enfermo? Pelo de cabra? Stevens trabajaba como editor fotografico para The Sun, un tabloide vendido en supermercados y publicado por America Media Inc. en Boca Raton, Florida. Los epidemiologos fueron alli y a su hogar en la cercana Lantana, donde preguntaron que hacia Stevens en su tiempo libre. Cuidaba un jardin? Pasaba mucho tiempo al aire libre? Si ese era el caso, donde? Con quien? Tambien recogieron muestras de polvo, tierra y respiraderos, buscando una posible fuente de materiales contaminados con antrax. Mientras estos investigadores se centraban en posibles causas naturales, otros examinaban la posibilidad mas siniestra: que Stevens fuera victima de un ataque organizado. Visitaron todos los hospitales de la zona para hablar con los trabajadores de control de infecciones, asi como con otros doctores, para revisar historiales medicos, microbiologicos y de rayos X de los pacientes atendidos por meningitis, fallos respiratorios graves, septicemia, fiebres inexplicadas y enfermedades como tularemia que pueden producir sintomas similares a los del antrax. Es posible que alguna pudiera haber sido antrax y fuera identificada por error como alguna otra cosa? El antrax por inhalacion produce inflamacion de los nodulos linfaticos en el mediastino, una zona que se encuentra entre la parte de atras de los pulmones y la espina dorsal. La inflamacion puede verse con rayos X. Lo paso por alto un radiologo? En todo su trabajo, los epidemiologos 'no encontraron nada sospechoso', declaro el doctor James M. Hughes, importante experto del CDC quien superviso la investigacion desde Atlanta, Georgia. Los epidemiologos hablaron con Blanco para saber todo lo que hizo las anteriores dos o tres semanas. Era un fanatico de la jardineria como Stevens? Compartian los dos una parcela para dedicarla a jardin? Habian comprado fertilizante o harina de huesos del mismo distribuidor? Que hacian juntos fuera del trabajo, si es que hacian algo juntos, Blanco y Stevens? Puesto que Blanco y Stevens eran companeros de trabajo, los epidemiologos preguntaron por recientes obras de construccion o renovacion en las oficinas de American Media. Podia alguien mas haber sacado tierra que contuviera esporas de una vaca que muriera de antrax hace muchos anos? Hicieron pruebas al polvo en grietas, bajo los escritorios y en los tubos y filtros del sistema de ventilacion. Se encontraron esporas de antrax en el teclado de Stevens. Tambien se detectaron esporas en muestras de las superficies de trabajo en la sala de empaque de American Media, informo el CDC

Nevirapine should still be used for two other groups, said the CDC. One is in treating people infected with HIV, the AIDS virus. The second is to prevent transmission of HIV from mothers to their infants during childbirth